Falklands say yes to remain British

The only thing in doubt was whether all the people eligible to vote would vote “yes”. In the end only three people said "no", when asked if the Falkland Islands should retain its current political status as a British overseas territory.

“There was a tremendous amount of partying going on last night. People particularly last night were very-very elated. I’m quite surprised at the density of the turnout and the really-really high percentage of votes.”

That's John Fowler who's the Deputy Editor of the Falkland’s Newspaper, the Penguin News. He said the ballot was not expected to change the opinion of those in Argentine, where 89% of people believe it has a claim to sovereignty of the islands.

“In the sense, this referendum wasn't for them. Not for this regime. Hopefully, it will make some impact on the people in Argentina. Part of this exercise was actually to give the people of the Falklands a voice.”

The Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner had said before the referendum that it had no legal validity. Adrian Bono is the Deputy Editor of the Buenos Aires Herald. He said the result would not stop Argentine from continuing its claim on the islands they call the Malvinas.

“From Argentina’s point of view this changes absolutely nothing. The Falkland’s governor has said that this represents a stop sign for Argentina, but in Argentina nothing has changed. It has no effect on whatever negotiations Argentina is going to have with England.”

Argentina's Congress is gathering today where it would reject the referendum results, while the country's Senate is due to vote on it later this week.

“They will maintain their claims that the only way to solve this issue is through dialogue with England. According to the U.N. resolution 2065 this is about sovereignty, it's not about colonialism, so therefore it has to be resolved between Argentina and the U.K. and the islanders are not necessarily part of this discussion.”

The Argentine opposition has said that President de Kirchner has used the Falklands to divert attention away from the country's faltering economy, but Adrian Bono from the Buenos Aires Herald says that it's been a course in Argentina for many years and the discovery of extensive oil around the islands has added an explosive element.

“The Argentine population think that the U.K. and the islanders are pillaging something that belongs to their country, so of course the population is very upset about that.”

Colin Lewis is Professor of Latin American Economic History at the London School of Economics. He says prospective of oil and natural gas reserves in the region is more of a long-term issue. It will rely on the expertise and financial commitment of oil and gas companies, which will not want to invest in the South-Atlantic unless there's more certainty over the islands' future.

“The reality of oil exploration and oil incomes flowing from the South Atlantic in the medium term – it's absolutely zero. For sure, there's potential, but politics and economics are going to get in the way or costs of exploration are going to be very-very high. South Atlantic oil is going to be a long way from the major consuming markets. So international oil prices will have to be very-very high for the economics to work out and politics is even more important in some ways than economics.”

Colin Lewis says that the Falkland Islanders feel, there's some solidarity between Argentina and other Latin American countries in the group known as Mercosur.

“It's sort of demonstration of the Mercosur, of South American solidarity, which, I think, has to some extent needled the islanders and one of the explanations for the timing of the referendum now is that sort of sense of solidarity that might be building within the Mercosur or within South America.”

Meanwhile, the referendum has sparked unprecedented political debate. As John Fowler from the Penguin News explains:

“One of the things that has come out of this is that the younger generation here is far more politically aware, far more politicized than they were and we are going to see as a result of this referendum far more discussion about what shape our future should take.”

There was a turnout of more than 90% from the 1672 British citizens eligible to vote in a population of just short of 2900.